Misery Business
by writ3rsblock
Summary: A young terminal patient gets through to House, showing his caring side. Rated T because well it's House. [WILL COMLETE]
1. one

**Hey; so this is the start of (probably) a 3-4 chapter story. Enjooy :)**

* * *

"I want to see Dr. House."

Foreman turned around and raised his eyebrows, opening his mouth to say something but Annie's mom beat him to it. "Honey, you need to rest. Just-

"_Mom_," Annie said, mid-coughing fit, "I want to talk to him."

Annie's mother crossed the hospital room, knealing by her daughter's bed and wrapping her hand around Annie's bony, pale fist. "Why?" she wanted to know, her voice shaken and desperate.

Annie paused a beat, and for a moment all anybody could hear was the blur of hospital background noise; monitors beeping, pagers ringing, doctors being called to who knows where. Annie turned to her mother, "Does there really need to be a why?" Her other hand shakily rose up, so that it was directly in front of her. She held up four fingers. _Four days. _

Her mother choked on tears, and stood up; she turned to Foreman slowly. "Is he available?"

* * *

"Patient wants to see you."

"Why does everyone want _me _doing there vaginal exams? Am I really that objectively handsome?"

Foreman shook his head, shutting House's glass office door behind him. "Not _that _one. Annie Kesterson; room 406."

House raised his eyebrows; he hadn't heard that name since before lunch. That case was long over. For all he knew, she'd been discharged.

"Why?" he asked, truly curious.

Foreman shrugged, "I'm told there doesn't need to be a _why_."

"Did you give her the prognosis?" he asked, reaching across his desk and pulling out a small orange bottle.

Foreman sighed grimly, "Yes."

House popped the bottle open, and swallowed a white pellet dry in one swift and practiced move. He tossed the bottle into a desk drawer, and stood up with the careful aid of his cane. "I guess she just doesn't like black people, then."

* * *

House tapped his cane against the ground, keeping time with the beeping monitor beside Annie. "So, was there something that you wanted or are you just trying to make your mom mad by letting me in here?"

Annie laughed a little bit, which morphed quickly into a cough. "What happened to your leg?" she asked quietly.

"What happened to your hair?" he shot back.

Annie nodded and returned her gaze down to her lap. House immediately regretted his words. The room went silent for another couple long seconds.

"You know, for every awkward silence another gay baby is born."

Annie turned to House suddenly, "Am I gonna die?"

House took a breath in, and gave a half smile, "Not my job."

"What?"

"Not my job to tell you if you're gonna die," he said standing up, "I have people for that."

He walked to the door, ready to leave.

"I know," Annie said, her expression darkening.

House turned to her, suddenly skeptical, "Then why are you asking me?"

Annie exhaled thickly, "You're a _jerk._"

"Boy, if I had a hooker for everytime someone said that..."

"The lady with the dark hair-she obviously hates you. I would _too_. You're annoying."

Annie fiddled with her blanket, her eyes on her hands, not on House.

"The only reason that you could still be working here...is if you're a _really _good doctor."

Annie leaned forward, stretching her IV cords.

"I need _you _to tell me I'm gonna die. Or else I won't believe it."

House said nothing. He shut the door he had half opened. Somehow, this strangely insightful twelve year old was getting to him.

"I know you're in pain everyday. That's why you take those pills, _Advil_ right?"

House nodded, "_Right_."

"But, I'd rather be in pain than die."

House again, said nothing. He fiddled with his tongue, trying to find something to say.

"I know you don't, but some people out there _don't _want to be miserable. They want to _live_." Annie coughed thickly, and then looked over at him. "I don't think you know quite how lucky you are."

House pursed his lips into a thin line, stood up, and left.


	2. two

**This is unedited; so please report any mistakes to me in the reviews. Thanks.. enjooy :)**

* * *

"What made you change your mind?" Wilson asked, walking alongside House in the hospital hallway. House ignored him.

"House, you were set on a diagnosis and then you go in and talk to her and suddenly you have _hope _again that she'll live; even though you didn't learn anything new from her. _What_, did she blackmail you into giving her more tests?"

House pressed the button to the elevator with his cane, and turned to Wilson. "I was _hoping_ that if I ignored you, you'd go away." House stepped into the elevator.

"_Fine_, don't tell me. But Annie has terminal cancer. You're wasting your time with the tests."

"No, I'm wasting _Cameron_'s time," he retorted, slapping the _close _button with his hand.

The doors of the elevator slid shut. House turned to a random woman next to him in the elevator, and groaned happily, "_Aah, _relief."

* * *

"Tests were all negative," Cameron's voice pierced a thick and loomy silence in House's office. It was dark out, and only a few nurses roamed the halls.

House was leaned back in his desk chair, his eyes closed.

"Then do more," he spoke tiredly.

"_House_," Cameron said, coming to lean on his desk, "It's _cancer_."

"Oh, shut up."

"Why do you care all of a sudden?"

House opened his eyes and sat forward, "Question is why don't you?"

Cameron sighed, "No, House. She's just another patient. It's a tragedy. But _she's_ at peace with it and she's _twelve_." She opened the door and turned back to him, "I'm going home. You should too."

* * *

"_House_, it's 10:00 and you don't even have a patient. Why are you still here?" Wilson took a seat across from House's desk. House was pretending to be asleep, a baseball cap draped over his eyes.

"Are you gonna tell me _why _you care so much about that girl?"

After awhile, when House realized Wilson wasn't going to leave, he took the cap off his eyes and sat forward again.

"I had a niece, cutest thing ever, who died from cancer. Very touchy subject for me."

"You don't have a niece."

House wiped a nonexistent tear from his cheek, "Not anymore."

"You're an only child."

House sighed, giving in.

"_Fine_. The girl, Addie or Abby or whatever her name was, she..." House struggled, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, trying to find the right words, "she said something to me."

"What did she say?" Wilson asked, leaning forward.

House stood up and gathered his briefcase, he crossed the room to leave, and answered Wilson in a very _House_-ish tone, "Unicorns are _real_."


	3. buckle my shoe

**Hey, look new chapterr :-) Don't know if I'm gonna keep going..**

* * *

"I can't be with you."

Cuddy turned from the sink, concern washed over her face, "_What?_"

"Or...more like you can't be with me." Cuddy put the plate she was holding down, and crossed the kitchen toward him.

"I mean you _can_, but you shouldn't."

"House-"

"Cuddy, you're...you're an amazing woman. You're smart, gorgeous, funny, caring..."

Every word, though truthful and genuine, injured his ego a little bit. House sighed, "And I'm just _miserable_."

"House, you're not-

"I don't want you... to be miserable, too. You don't deserve to be miserable."

Cuddy shook her head, "You don't make me miserable. _You make me better_."

House didn't respond.

"You're handsome and witty and funny," Cuddy began, intertwining her fingers with his, "And you do what's _right._"

She smiled up at him, "I love you."

House nodded, swallowing hard. He laughed a little, "Weird response to me breaking up with you."

Cuddy wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself into him. After a few moments, he cautiously placed his arms around her.

"I...love you, too," he said awkwardly.

Cuddy grinned into his neck, and kissed him firmly on the lips. She left his embrace and tossed him a dishrag, leaving him to go see Rachel who was watching TV in the livingroom, "Love me enough to do the dishes?"

"That's not fair," he laughed, glancing over at the stack of dirty dishes.

House, against his better judgement, limped over to the sink. He looked over at Cuddy in the other room, who was helping Rachel get her pajamas on.

He picked up a plate, and started washing.


End file.
